Canon Eos C300 Workshop

The Canon Eos C300 is a fantastic high performance video camera, used on the sets of actually hollywood productions and is a great piece of kit for any student wanting to shoot with professional standard equipment.

















In our university we have two of these camera's which are shared between DFSA and Film Production respectively. For this reason they of course can not be taken out at any time and must be booked in advance for your shoot which is why we must keep organised as a group to be able to produce a schedule soon in order to get this camera.

Being so expensive and technical as a camera, university requires that in order to take this camera out onto a shoot you must:

1) Be inducted on C300 and all the kit that comes with it
2) Have a total of 3 trained crew members on set working with the C300
3) Be signed off on your film for shooting
4) Have a pre-visualisation already completed

So this is the reason for the workshop and as a small group we were fortunate enough to have the whole main crew trained on the camera, with the decision that myself, Charlotte and Callam would be responsible for it on set.

The workshop showed the whole preparation and setup for the camera and we were provided with a checklist to go through each time we use the camera. This workflow booklet has to be followed closely in order to make sure the camera stays in working order.

We had the chance to experiment with all the lenses that come with this kit, which range from a 17mm wide angle, to a 28mm, 35mm, 80mm. It was important for me to understand the kind of image these lenses produced and how they can be used to an advantage of visual storytelling.

Following the workshop Al, Charlotte and I went back the following day to use the camera again, this time with a dolly and giving Charlotte the chance to practice with focus pulling. Speaking with the technicians and lecturers we were able to receive some good technical knowledge on how to use the camera and what they would expect as professional practice.

We also had the chance to shoot in C Log for the first time which is a very flat picture style allowing for fantastic opportunities in colour correction and grading. One thing i have to personally remember with this is that you need to light and frame the shot with C Log off so that everyone can see what the desired output will look like, then before recording turn it on, as things may look a bit brighter and desaturated if we try and prepare the shot with it turned on.

My plan as a DOP and camera operator is to try and practice with this camera, lenses, filter, movement and the footage from practice shots as much as possible so that when it comes to storyboarding, planning and shooting itself i feel confident in what image is going to be produced, how it can be achieved and know how best to use the camera to its potential.